RIP David McCallum

[luvmysuper]

The NCIS actor and former co-star of "The Man From UNCLE" passed away Monday. He was 90.
I remember well his role in The Man From Uncle, Illya Kuryakin, a bit part that his acting skill turned into a co-starring role.
He was great in "The Great Escape".
May he rest in peace.

 

[luvmysuper]

His memorable roles included
Steven Wyatt in the film Billy Budd in 1962
Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt, "Dispersal" in the film The Great Escape in 1963
Judas Iscariot in the film The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965
Paul Curtis in the film The Watcher in the Woods in 1980
Illya Kuryakin in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. from 1964–1968
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the TV series NCIS from 2003–2023

 

[ctr]

A great talent has exited the stage. He will be missed.

 

[Lockback]

The NCIS actor and former co-star of "The Man From UNCLE" passed away Monday. He was 90.
I remember well his role in The Man From Uncle, Illya Kuryakin, a bit part that his acting skill turned into a co-starring role.
He was great in "The Great Escape".
May he rest in peace.

I primarily remember him from "The Man From UNCLE". I never missed the show as a kid.
May he R.I.P. He had a long life and deserves a rest.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Our whole family loved the Man From Uncle.... It was part of our TV watching routine every week. I quite enjoyed his Ducky character on NCIS.

His acting will be missed. 90 is a pretty ripe old age. I hope he passed in peace and rests that way as well.

 

[Black Adder]

I've seen him in Perry Mason; also, as the rapidly evolved human in the Outer Limits episode, "The Sixth Finger." Married to Jill Ireland, too.

 

[DesertIguana]

David had interesting career, recall him on UNCLE. I enjoyed that show.

 

[captp]

RIP Duckie

 

[Columbo]

I know younger viewers remembered him more for NCIS.

But @Benzadmiral and I would often banter about UNCLE. McCallum was absolutely central to the success of that fun old show.

He'll be genuinely missed by us UNCLE fans. Rest in peace, Illya.




Here's a few outside the show clips of a young McCallum back in '65.


McCallum getting some touch up on the set of UNCLE:

McCallum and Vaughn "hanging around" between takes:

McCallum and Vaughn getting their 1965 Golden Globes for UNCLE:

McCallum in New York, talking to Vaughn in Hollywood, over their "secret radio" 1965 Emmys:

And McCallum with Andy Williams, during the height of UNCLE:

 

[jaro 101969]

RIP To A Wonderful Actor And Person !!!!!!!

David Keith McCallum You shall be missed....

 

[wes1953]

RIP Illya Kuryakin

 

[never-stop-learning]

R.I.P. "Ducky". You will be missed.

 

[Eric_75]

Rest in peace.

 

[Alum Ladd]

A rock-solid actor, well known to British audiences due to his stage and screen presence prior to his Man From U.N.C.L.E breakthrough.

He was the oldest Equity (British actors union) card carrying member, holding his from 1946. He was a Lieutenant in the army, being promoted in 1954. He had been drafted in 1951.

He was a very gifted musician, and played the oboe. He attended RADA (The Royal Acedemy Of Dramatic Art) after leaving the army.

After a very active early career in theatre he was noticed by the film industry.

He was signed by the British Rank Organisation in 1956, and played some powerful supporting roles in such films as the excellent Hell Drivers (1957) Robbery Under Arms (1957) a very unusual film set in 19th Century Australia about outback outlaws (It was on set that McCallum met Jill Ireland)

Probably his first major role was Titanic's junior Marconi wireless operator Harold Bride in the classic 1958 Rank production A Night To Remember (The best Titanic film ever made IMO)

The rest as they say is history.

David McCallum. May his memory be a blessing.

 

[dmshaver]

RIP David.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Hey, all! I missed this completely yesterday, and yet I was certainly around the forum! Yes; McCallum was a remarkable actor, and by all accounts a good man. He and Vaughn were not "rivals," as the press of the time tried to say. They were friends, but very different people. Robert during the MfU days was a bit of a playboy -- he was still single then -- while David was married, first to Jill Ireland (there's a story there) and then to his second wife, to whom he was married until his death. (Robert was the same way. A refreshing contrast to today's Hollywooders, who change spouses every few years, it seems.)

David also published a crime novel called Once a Crooked Man in 2016. I've read it; it's quite good, and given his education, I'm willing to believe he wrote it himself rather than employing a ghostwriter.

 

[ajkel64]

He will be missed. RIP David McCallum.

 

[Benzadmiral]

As for the Jill Ireland thing: There were married for about 8 years, from 1957. She appeared on MfU as a guest star four times, twice as the same character in the first year. They were both friends with Charles Bronson, whom David starred with in The Great Escape (and who had worked with Robert in Magnificent Seven), and Jill apparently saw a better deal with CB. David wasted little time mourning, as he married Katherine Carpenter in '67.

As a kid, being the big Napoleon Solo fan I was and am, I didn't care for episodes which showcased Illya at Solo's expense. Watching them on DVD with a critical adult eye many years later, I realized his Illya was crucial to the dynamic that made the show go. An MfU episode without Illya was still good; one without Solo seemed not to work well. You had to have them both for it really to zing.

His Illya was a forerunner of Spock: the exotic, mysterious "other" in contrast to the show's lead, a role which became steadily more popular in the fans' eyes than the original lead. Robert, by all accounts, did not mind David's growing fame. He was more concerned with the war in Vietnam at the time, and with earning his own Ph.D. He'd said many times he was glad to have David step in to give him some time off.

 

[Benzadmiral]

It's fun to watch David settle into the Illya role. In a couple of early episodes he is rather boyish and excitable -- an odd vibe for a character who grew to be rather cool and unflappable -- but then Nimoy had some odd turns in the early days as Spock.

And yes, we are talking a lot about his Illya role and not too much about others. He himself even said, he expected that his headstone would say, "Here Lies Illya Kuryakin." Yet, he was pleased to recreate the character with Robert as Solo in the otherwise lackluster TV-movie Return in 1983.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Another anecdote about his early days in H'wood: David and Jill were just stringing along as actors in the early Sixties (this was before the Beatles made everything English automatically "cool"), and he even bounced a check. Then along came offers for two things: a TV series based on the life of Alexander the Great, and something called Solo. David thought about it, and realized that a series about Alexander (prob. the one starring William Shatner) was never going to work for long in America. He thought he could get some footage together with the other series to show film producers.

Solo, of course, became The Man From U.N.C.L.E.